Persistence pays off for Smart City Network Project

24 Feb 2014 - 11:19:55 in Research
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The School of Engineering and Computer Science at Victoria University of Wellington is part of an international group which has been awarded a prestigious grant funded by the European Union.

The highly sought after Erasmus Mundus grant will allow PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and staff members to share and collaborate on their research by visiting partner universities.

The project theme is a ‘Smart City Network’, and it will be made up of a wide range of smaller individual projects that focus on information and communications technology (ICT). A city can be called ‘smart’ when it uses integrated ICTs to produce sustainable economic development and a high quality of life for its citizens.

Victoria is the sole New Zealand university in the group of 10 institutions from Europe and Australasia. Led by the University of Malaga in Spain, this is the consortium’s third attempt to secure project funding through the Erasmus Mundus grant. The group’s persistence has paid off with €1.188 million ($NZ1.96 million) granted to support the project for three years.

Professor Winston Seah, from Victoria’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, has worked with the University of Malaga to put together each application and is pleased to see the consortium’s efforts rewarded.

He says the project provides an exciting opportunity for students and staff at the School of Engineering and Computer Science.

“This will benefit the faculty as a whole,” says Professor Seah. “Not only will it allow our students and staff to travel to partner institutions to enrich their studies, it will also mean we benefit from the expertise of visiting researchers who choose to further their work here at Victoria.”

Professor Dale Carnegie, Head of School, is thrilled at the affirmation of the quality of Victoria’s engineering programme. “This provides an exceptional opportunity to increase the collaboration opportunities of our world-class staff and to provide a unique experience for our growing student cohort,” says Professor Carnegie.

The first round of applications will be called for shortly meaning PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and staff members from the 10 partner institutions will have the chance to apply to have their travel expenses covered to continue their research at another university. Professor Seah says there has already been significant interest shown from international scholars keen to further their projects at Victoria.

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